It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of grappling in any form and one of my favorite things to practice is throws. There is just something immensely satisfying about hitting another human being with the Earth. Generating serious force then slamming them into an immovable object is a thing of beauty. Even being on the receiving end of such a throw, as painful as it might be, is a glorious experience. To paraphrase Carlson Gracie Sr in a conversation I was fortunate enough to have with him after one of my matches, “If you beat me using Jiujitsu, it’s okay because Jiujitsu still won and that’s all that matters.”

So even if I’m on the receiving end of the throw, I’m still happy because it proves once again that the art works. In this blog I wanted to share with you some highlights from some of my favorite grappling arts. Judo, Sambo, Greco, and Freestyle. These arts provide us with an encyclopedia of throws. You don’t necessarily need to master them all, although it would be cool if you did, but I think it would do you a world of good to pick 2-3 throws and make those throws part of your game plan.

Judo is an incredibly dynamic throwing art. I could watch the strategy in play here for hours. It might take a lifetime of work to master this art however most folks can learn a handful of Judo throws within a few weeks. This would make your standup game substantially more dangerous.

Sambo is Russian. Do I need to say more? Killer throws, and a slightly different strategy based on the design of the jacket. The only downside to Sambo? It’s really hard to find competent instructors.

Greco-Roman is a great art for no-gi throws. The upper body control through the use of ties, hooks, and body locks is excellent. Learning to set up your no-gi, or non-cloth dependent throws using only upper body control makes the same throws so much easier once you add in the use of your legs to sweep, reap, and bump your opponents legs.

Lastly, Freestyle Wrestling. Every culture has some form of wrestling. If we examine the art of various cultures, particularly art that is depicting men preparing for battle we find a common theme, wrestling. When we see artwork depicting one guy trying to kill another guy using a sword or some other weapon, we usually see some form of grappling. Hand and arm control, which is so essential to grappling, becomes even more essential when weapons are introduced, particularly edged weapons.

So take some time to learn a few throws, the fundamentals of grappling, figure out how to apply grappling to your needs and maybe you’ll experience the joys of unstoppable force paradox.